Thought all you haters would love this
Related
The best of Mal Michael
Essendon media conference
Fletcher to CHB
Lions fume, Bombers defiant
4:29:21 PM Fri 24 November, 2006
Paul Gough
Sportal for afl.com.au
Brisbane chief executive Michael Bowers has vowed to take "any action possible" to prevent Mal Michael from becoming an Essendon player after the former Lions' full-back joined the Bombers on Friday, just six weeks after announcing his retirement.
Bowers told Sportal that Michael's actions had the potential to create "absolute anarchy" with the Lions immediately putting in an official complaint to the AFL.
"I think everyone in the AFL system should be concerned about this," he said.
"It has the potential to totally destroy the fabric of the AFL draft system."
In a major shock the Bombers announced on Friday they would claim Michael at selection two in the December 12 NAB AFL pre-season draft - leaving the Kangaroos with the first live pick after Carlton had previously announced it would select ex St Kilda ruckman Cain Ackland with the first pick.
The AFL announced late on Friday it would investigate the Lions' complaint with football operations manager Adrian Anderson refusing to comment other than to say "the investigation would be completed within weeks."
Michael, who is still only 29, has signed a two year contract and will commence training with Essendon in mid-December after previously rejecting the chance to play out the last year on his Brisbane contract in 2007.
The Lions then agreed to terminate his contract but the Bombers maintained on Friday they have done nothing wrong in signing Michael because Brisbane did not insert a clause in Michael's official release preventing him from playing for another club.
"If the deed of release which was negotiated didn’t look after the club's best interests then that is not my problem," Essendon chief executive Peter Jackson said.
Jackson said Brisbane would have had legitimate grounds for complaint had they paid all or part of Michael's contract for 2007 but even Bowers admitted this was not the case.
"When someone retires and they are getting no (financial) consideration for it, it's a bit rich to then go and say you can't earn a livelihood somewhere else," Jackson said.
"All that has happened is the guy (Michael) has changed his mind (about retiring)."
Michael announced his retirement from Brisbane on October 5, following months of speculation, after initially wanting to play on with a reduced training load - a move rejected by Brisbane coach Leigh Matthews.
Amongst the reasons he cited for his "retirement" was a desire to spend more time pursuing other interests in his native Papua New Guinea.
“I’m just ready for the next phase of my life,†Michael said at the time.
However just six weeks later and Michael has now committed to playing for Essendon for the next two years, saying he made no secret of his desire to return to Melbourne.
"I was probably more sick of Brisbane the city than sick of football," Michael said in explaining his about face.
"I wanted to come home (to Melbourne where he began his career with Collingwood) 12 months ago, I did my six years in Brisbane and thought I was a good employee for the club."
Michael said he did not agree to a trade back to Victoria during trade week (despite strong interest from Hawthorn) because he didn't think he would have the time to commit to football.
But he said Essendon's training schedule suited his desire to pursue outside interests far better than Brisbane's.
And he claimed that watching this year's thrilling grand final between Sydney and West Coast also re-ignited his desire to play again, even thought he announced his retirement from Brisbane the week after.
However Michael was adamant he has done nothing wrong.
"If Brisbane had paid out my (2007) contract out then fair enough I shouldn't be allowed to play but we should also realise that with me leaving, they also kept a few players that might have gone elsewhere (due to salary cap pressures)."
"People come out of retirement all the time to work - my Dad did it and he didn't get a press conference."
However if Brisbane have their way, Michael will never play for Essendon or any other club.
"We only agreed to terminate the remaining year on his contract because he said he wanted to retire," Bowers said.
"We will be saying to the AFL that Mal Michael should be excluded from participating in any draft (until after the 2007 season when his Brisbane contract expires) and that they should refuse his re-registration with Essendon or any club."
Bowers said if Michael was allowed to play for Essendon after having walked away from his contract with Brisbane by announcing his retirement then it would set a precedent for any player to do exactly the same thing in future seasons.
However Essendon is confident it will be given permission by the AFL to register Michael, with Jackson adamant the Bombers had in no way tampered with the draft.
"Think through it logically - how on earth could Essendon induce Mal Michael to retire on October 4 with the idea of getting him in the pre-season draft when Carlton had the number one draft pick (which it used on Ackland) at that time."
"We made contact with Mal for the first time on November 2, through his manager Michael Quinlan, when we asked whether he would re-consider his retirement because we knew he was coming to Melbourne."
Jackson said that he also checked with AFL investigator Ken Wood as to whether the Bombers could secure Michael and had been given the go-ahead.
"If there are any other issues to do with this agreement between Essendon and Mal Michael then Essendon is not aware of it and as far as I'm aware the AFL is not aware of it."
